- 2 km
- To Nizza Monferrato
- 7 km
- To Canelli
- 15 km
- The whole weekend
- Free
- Bikes all weekend
Monferrato rewards the slow approach. The villages sit on hilltops a few kilometres apart, each with a church, a castle or a tower and a view over the vines, and everything below fits inside a fifteen-kilometre circle around the cascina.
Here is how we'd spend it: on the bike on Friday and Saturday morning, in the car for the villages and Canelli, with long meals in between. Every stop is numbered on the map, and the restaurants are worth booking ahead.
“Everything in this weekend fits inside a fifteen-kilometre circle around the cascina.”
Arriving on Friday morning? Then start at the weekly market, which fills the squares of Nizza until about one o'clock. And on the third Sunday of the month the town has its big antiques market too.
Cycle in for aperitivo
Check in, take a bike and ride the ten minutes into Nizza. Start with a glass at a wine bar, stay for dinner in town and stop for a gelato on the way back.
- 1
Cugini di Torino
A lively wine bar in the town centre, built around platters of local salumi and cheese and the Piemonte wines to go with them.
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Le due lanterne
In the centre of Nizza Monferrato, a family-run kitchen where classic Piemontese cooking gets a light modern touch.
- 3
Gelateria Chicca
A long-standing gelateria with artisanal ice cream in flavours you don't see often (wild fennel, lemon and sage) plus dairy-free and reduced-sugar options.
Coffee, then Barbera
Coffee at our favourite café, then a tasting at the regional enoteca to find the Barbera you like best. On the way home, the nearest winery is less than a kilometre from our gate.
- 4
Era Tantì
A country-chic café near the market, and our favourite in town. Come for the coffee, stay for the farinata.
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Tasting at the Enoteca Regionale di Nizza (Palazzo Crova)
If you want to get your head round Barbera d'Asti DOCG and Nizza DOCG, start at the regional enoteca in the 18th-century Palazzo Crova: over 600 local labels in the cellar, six of them open to taste each week.
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Cantina Sant'Evasio
Sant'Evasio is run by four of the same family (Piero, Anna, Andrea and Emanuela) in Nizza Monferrato.
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Grappa and amaretti
Mombaruzzo, a few kilometres east, gives you two things to taste at the source: grappa from the Berta distillery and the village's soft amaretti, made to a recipe written down in the late 1700s. Finish on the giant swing above the vineyards.
- 7
Berta distillery tour & grappa tasting
Free (small groups) · About 1 hourThe Berta family is three generations into distilling grappa, and the tour of their distillery in the Casalotto hamlet of Mombaruzzo takes in the alembic museum, the four ageing cellars and how steam-still distillation actually works.
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Amaretti workshop visit & tasting: Moriondo Virginio
About 1 hourFrancesco Moriondo wrote down the Mombaruzzo amaretti recipe back in the late 1700s, and the Moriondo Virginio workshop still keeps it.
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Altalena gigante di Mombaruzzo
A giant swing on a ridge above the Barbera vineyards, with parking, benches, and room for a picnic right beside it.
Dinner in the villages
Saturday is the night to eat out of town. Three of the best-loved kitchens in the villages around us, each a short drive away. Book ahead.
- 10
Del Belbo Da Bardone Andrea e Bardone Gioacchino
The wheeled meat cart is the thing everyone remembers: rabbit and bollito misto carved tableside, with truffles shaved over eggs in season.
- 11
Ristorante Violetta
Traditional Piemontese cooking done properly at this long-standing, family-run place: the finanziera and the gnocchi with sausage get particular praise, with a cheese dessert to finish.
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Osteria La Marlera di Alan Bustamante
Reserve ahead and let the owner steer you toward a Barbera: that's how to eat at this Mombaruzzo osteria.
Canelli, above and below ground
Drive over to Canelli, where Italian sparkling wine began. Coffee and pastries first, then a tour of the underground cathedrals, the tufa cellars under the town, and a climb to the Torre dei Contini for the view over the UNESCO hills.
- 13
Bosca La Pasticceria S.A.S di Bosetti Gianmarco
A pastry shop and café in Canelli for good coffee with fresh pastries and cakes, at the counter or at tables outside.
- 14
Contratto Underground Cathedral tour & tasting
€50 · 90 minutesContratto has been making classic-method sparkling wine since 1867, and its UNESCO-listed underground cathedrals go over 5,000 m² deep: tunnels cut as far as 32 m into the hillside marl.
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Torre dei Contini
An old tower alone on a hilltop among the vineyards above Canelli, reached on foot by a short path through the vines, with a spiral staircase up to a 360-degree view over the surrounding towns.
One long last lunch
Stay in Canelli for lunch, then come back for an afternoon by the pool. On the third Sunday of the month, swap the morning for the antiques market in Nizza.
- 16
Enoteca di Canelli
A family-run restaurant down in the wine cellars of the Enoteca di Canelli, known for its veal tartare, handmade pasta and a deep list of Piedmontese wines at fair prices.
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Osteria dei Meravigliati
Piemontese cooking in a courtyard under big trees, or inside a striking sky-blue room.
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This weekend and the next
Fairs, festivals and wine events within easy reach over the coming weeks.
- Sep 27 – Nov 8Mostra "Sarah's Ark": Sarah Bowyer (BAart, Agliano Terme) ↗
An autumn solo show at BAart in Agliano Terme. 'Sarah's Ark' by the Italian-British artist Sarah Bowyer shows twelve works on fabric, a contemporary Noah's Ark of exotic animals, carnivorous flowers and a mysterious female figure.
- Oct 30Autunno in Musica ↗
The Accademia di Cultura Nicese L'Erca's autumn classical concert season: Friday evenings of chamber music in the Auditorium Santissima Trinità, a deconsecrated church in the centre of Nizza Monferrato.
- Oct 30 – Nov 2RossoBarbera ↗
The biggest tasting bench dedicated to Barbera: over four days around All Saints', the castle of Costigliole d'Asti pours more than 400 Barberas from some 200 wineries, with masterclasses, a historic-vintage tasting, Barbera food pairings, a grappa salon and a walk through the old Rocca quarter.
- Oct 31Festa di Halloween per i Bambini (San Marzano Oliveto) ↗
The Pro Loco throws a children's Halloween party in San Marzano Oliveto on 31 October: the village's autumn get-together for families once the harvest is done.
- Oct 31Mostra "La magnificenza dell'anima": Giacomo Soffiantino ↗
An autumn exhibition of paintings by the Turin artist Giacomo Soffiantino (1929–2013), four-time Biennale di Venezia exhibitor, in the rooms of Casa Prunotto in Costigliole d'Asti's old Rocca quarter: weekends from 10 October to 1 November, free entry.
- Nov 1Fiera di San Carlo e del Tartufo Bianco ↗
Nizza's centuries-old autumn fair honours the local cardo gobbo (hunchback cardoon) and bagna cauda, now paired with the White Truffle Fair of the Alto Monferrato: a full day of grand market, tastings and cooking shows.
Book the weekend
Friday to Sunday at the cascina, bikes included. Tell us your dates and we're happy to help plan the rest.